WEBVTT

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(emotional music)

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- Heidegger, is that how you say it?

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- [Heidegger] Heidegger, here sir.

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(reading more names)

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- When you get a whole
bunch of paratroopers

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from all over the world together,

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there's nothing like it.

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- We're on our way to
D-Day 74th anniversary.

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- That's a great
opportunity to get out here

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and experience the history.

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- Every paratrooper should aspire

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to do and just live on and
carry the name of the airborne.

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- I've been trying to get up and go to it

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for four years now, it's
my last chance to go,

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so I'm very excited.

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- As soon as we land in
Cherbourg, we'll got to the RSOI.

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Questions, comments, concerns?

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There's the bus.

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(emotional music)

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- Not a lot of people get to do this,

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so it's a real honor to
do it as a paratrooper

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and as a soldier.

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(emotional music)

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- My name is Raymond Wallis,

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I'm from Pennsylvania, I was
in Company B 507 regiment,

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82nd airborne, and I
jumped in here on D-Day at

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1:30 in the morning.

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(emotional music)

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I was only supposed to
be there three days,

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but I was there 33, and
then I was relieved,

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and the ones that came out of there

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was only 680 out of 2100 that went in.

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So, one out of every
three, one of them got out.

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(emotional music)

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- We just landed, we're in Normandy,

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we're here to do the
D-Day celebration jump.

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I feel very honored and able to come

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and represent 173rd 1-91 Cav,

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it's an honor to be able
to talk to some vets

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and be able to be in the places

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that the history was created before us.

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(emotional music)

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- I'm Captain Brian Whitmyer,

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I'm the planner for the
airborne operation for D-Day 74.

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This is definitely a humbling experience,

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to be part of a airborne operation

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onto the same drop zones that
were jumped on June 6th 1944.

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To work with French, German,
Dutch, Romanian allies,

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as well as every major airborne unit

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within the United States military,

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to remember and to memorialize

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the efforts of our
veterans of World War Two.

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I mean, it's a once in
a lifetime experience.

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- We have bridges out
all over the drop zone,

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look for VS-17 panels,
and go to that area.

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It's going to, kind of, funnel
you into the turning point,

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which is up here, and then
that's where you'll do the

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wind machine, alright, have a good jump.

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(dramatic music)

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- This was amazing, once
in a lifetime opportunity.

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- Great experience, glad to be part of it.

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- To jump with the French,
on this Normandy drop zone,

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what a great honor it is
for me to have done this.

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Thank you.

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- A phenomenal jump, beautiful day,

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and it's great to be out here
with our allied partners.

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- It was amazing.

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- Best jump ever.

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- There's not an airborne soldier
in the United States Army,

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who wouldn't trade
spots with anybody here,

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it's just a phenomenal
opportunity for all of us,

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to have this experience.

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(applause)

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- I feel so blessed to have
been able to participate

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in an operation like this.

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This is a once in a lifetime
experience, for sure.

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The French have shown us nothing but love.

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They're just excited to
see us everywhere we go,

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they're so nice to us,
they take care of us,

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the level of hospitality here is amazing,

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I've never seen anything like it.